Richard Ramirez, a drifter from El Paso, Texas, and a self-described Satan worshipper, had gone on a rampage so grisly that Deputy District Attorney Phil Halpin said Ramirez had probably written the book on serial murders. The Killer in My Family s1e2: Richard Ramirez, news, Quest Red 2020
In the summer of 1985 the citizens of Los Angeles were held hostage by the actions of Richard Ramirez. What had started as burglaries to fund his drug habit soon escalated into a series of brutal and horrific murders. All his victims were complete strangers. ibid. commentary
Ramirez raped, killed and stole, and a few people survived the brutal attacks. ibid. news
The name changed from the Valley Intruder to the Night Stalker. ibid. rozzer
I’m telling you he wasn’t always bad. ibid. niece
Richard suffered with epilepsy since the age of six. ibid. commentary
Held on Death Row for 24 years. ibid.
[Rozzer]: ‘This was just a vile human being.’ Very Scary People s2e5: The Night Stalker: Summer of Terror, CI 2022
Some crime experts call the 1980s, The Decade of the Serial Killer. ibid.
One man stood out. His crimes were random and vicious. His victims ranged from toddlers to the elderly … His name was Richard Ramirez and he was the Night Stalker. ibid.
‘Although beaten and sexually assaulted, Lillian survived the attack. She was able to provide law enforcement with a description of the attacker.’ ibid. comment
‘He was just radiation evil.’ ibid. rozzer
The media called it a rampage. There was a serial killer on the loose in California. Random attacks throughout the spring and summer of 1985 … He broke into people’s homes, stole anything of value, he raped, beat and murdered those he found inside. He had been linked to at least 15 murders. Very Scary People s2e6: The Night Stalker, I Will Be Avenged
‘The persona of a Gothic, evil, night-marauder.’ ibid.
‘And the circus began’. ibid. rozzer
SAMUEL RAMIREZ: see PADILLA, MARIO
RAMSEY, JONBENET murder: True Crime with Aphrodite Jones TV - Examiner online - JonBenet: An American Murder TV - JonBenet: People Magazine Investigates TV - Real Crime: Who Killed the Pageant Queen? TV - Casting JonBenet 2017 - Killing of Jonbenet: Her Father Speaks TV - Overkill: The Murder of JonBenet TV - Hunting JonBenet’s Killer TV - Mail online - JonBenet Ramsey: What Really Happened? TV - Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey? A Suburban Nightmare TV - Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey? TV -
It’s one of the most haunting murder cases in American history. Six-years-old JonBenet Ramsey was found dead. True Crime with Aphrodite Jones s2e1: JonBenet Ramsey, ID 2011
In 1996 the murder of JonBenet Ramsey stunned the nation. ibid.
Many people still believe John and Patsy Ramsey are responsible for her death. They’ve never been charged with the murder. ibid.
On the morning after Christmas, December 26th 1996, Patsy Ramsey woke up suddenly. ibid.
The note contained detailed instructions ... What began as a kidnapping was now a homicide investigation. ibid.
Why would someone leave a ransom note if the victim was already dead? ibid.
Analysts were unable to rule out Patsy Ramsey as the writer. ibid.
The big hole in the investigation was motive. ibid.
The Ramseys talked about how unfair the police and press had been to them. ibid.
The investigation had slowed to a crawl. ibid.
Patsy staunchly maintained her innocence. ibid.
A new analysis of the crime scene photos shows two sets of footprints on the basement floor. ibid.
One or more intruders were responsible for the death of JonBenet Ramsey. ibid.
Patsy never lived to see the Ramsey family cleared. ibid.
When a district judge ruled in 2003 that evidence showed an intruder most likely killed JonBenet Ramsey, she didn’t shy away from commenting on other suspects.
US District Judge Julie Carnes issued a 93-page ruling after dismissing a civil lawsuit filed by a freelance journalist who claimed JonBenet’s mother, Patsy Ramsey, was the killer.
The civil defamation suit was filed by journalist Chris Wolf in March 2001 after the Ramseys publicly named Wolf as a possible suspect in the case.
But the lawsuit backfired. In the first thorough judicial review of the evidence, Carnes ruled evidence actually pointed away from the mother.
Which left the question: If not Patsy Ramsey, who? Examiner online article 28th January 2013
‘755 15th Street. We have a kidnapping. Hurry, please ... Oh my God!’ JonBenet: An American Murder I II III, 911 call, 2016
Who killed JonBenet? ... December 26th 1996: ‘The cause of death was strangulation’. ibid.
‘The note was found on the back stairway by Patsy Ramsey ... It’s two and a half pages.’ ibid.
9‘I found over two hundred similarities between Patsy Ramsey’s handwriting and the ransom note.’ ibid.
Once again the Ramseys take their case to the public. ibid.
‘Law enforcement screwed up; they screwed up from day one.’ ibid.
A slew of new suspects emerged: ‘In order to protect the one living child they had left – which was Burt – they figured out a cover-up.’ ibid.
A family friend could have been the murderer – Bill McReynolds – he looked like Santa ... He turned up on the Today Show a week later ... ‘She [JonBenet] took him on a personal tour of the home ... And even believed he was the real Santa Claus ... She had so much trust in Santa Bill’ ... ‘That crime 22 years to the day to JonBenet’s murder’ ... ‘Investigators need to look elsewhere’. ibid.
Gary Oliva: ‘He was a convicted child sex offender’ ... ‘he was a homeless man’ ... ‘he knew that neighbourhood’ ... ‘the poem he wrote Ode to JonBenet found in his backpack’ ... ‘He had created a shrine to JonBenet in his home’ ... ‘They just could not put him at the scene of the crime’. ibid.
Police don’t seem to consider [Michael] Helgoth a viable suspect ... ‘Helgoth may be the intruder he is looking for’ ... ibid.
A mysterious figure makes an astonishing admission: Daxas. ‘The DNA did not match’ ... ibid.
‘The audacity of the crime.’ JonBenet: People Magazine Investigates, Vicky, ID 2017
JonBenet’s story begins and ends with family. ibid.
Kidnapping and a ransom note? It’s about as far from typical as a 911 call can get … It takes them hours to arrive. ibid.
The detective on site somehow loses control of the crime scene. ibid.
‘Evidence of sexual trauma: this girl was subjected to some sort of damage in the vaginal area that pre-dates her death.’ ibid.
‘A kind of emotional vacuum there.’ ibid. FBI dude of mother
‘He [son] was instantly shielded by his parents.’ ibid. commentator
The killing of six-year-old American beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey has become one of the great crime stories of the twentieth century. Did her mother Patsy abuse, torture and murder her daughter? Real Crime [with Mark Austin] s1e5: Who Killed the Pageant Queen? The Murder of JonBenet Ramsey, ITV 2001
They had found a bizarre three-page ransom note on these back stairs. ibid.
They had found no evidence of a break-in and no footsteps in the snow around the house. ibid.
The couple were hounded everywhere they went. ibid.
‘The window was wide open; but what also caught my attention was a mark on the wall … There was a suitcase right underneath this window.’ ibid. investigator Lou Smit
Late night television fuelled the hysteria. ibid.
‘There’s no way Patsy could have written that after murdering her daughter.’ ibid. Smit
Smit also identified the actual weapon which he believed caused the injuries: ‘The stun gun we came up with is this one … It would have allowed the killer to take her from her bed without her struggling … It points directly at an intruder.’ ibid.
‘You can see the amount of force that was exerted on that garrotte.’ ibid.
‘Somebody brutally bludgeoned JonBenet that night.’ ibid.